Safe in the Arms of Sanity
by Emerald Cheshire
Summary: Buffy and co. are experiencing horrific nightmares, haunted by a dream-hopping poltergeist set on stealing their sanity. Extreme violence and gore. Please R&R.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer : I do not own the characters of Buffy, I just borrow them :-D  
  
Read : No, No, I'm not copying A Nightmare on Elm Street or anything like that, this story is my creation. Right, set in early series 7, Buffy and her friend's dreams are haunted by a deceased mental patient. That's all I'm sayin ;-) Read the rest. Rated R for extreme, and I mean EXTREME violence and gore. Please review, I love feedback :-) Helps me write better.   
Thanks!  
  
Copyright : Copyright me, Ryan Dawe :-) Please don't take  
  
Contact : Contact me at yourbuddyryanhotmail.com

* * *

Buffy shivered.   
  
_Brr, cold,_ she thought. It wasn't a cold day. The wind was the cause of her shivering. It was just so cold. She craned her neck to look to the front of the line.  
  
"Damn," she heard Dawn mutter. "This line's going nowhere." Buffy turned to look at her brunette sister. Why were they here?  
  
"Well it's opening week, so It's probably going to be busy for a while," she replied, still distraught by the unusual cold. It was never this cold in Sunnydale. They were lining up outside of the Sunnydale movie theatre, waiting to get their tickets for some movie Dawn had wanted to see. Someone had suggested that they go and spend some quality time together, but whoever it was, Buffy couldn't remember."Are you cold?" Buffy asked. Dawn glanced at her awkardly.  
  
"Nup, I'm good," she said. The blonde-haired slayer stared at her sister for a moment, still concentrating on trying to figure out what they were doing there.  
  
"It's just so cold..." She mumbled. She wrapped her arms around herself, a feeble attempt to block the cold from biting through her. Unease crept up her spine, and gathered at the base of her neck. What was she doing here?  
  
"Dawn.." She started, her eyes staring off into space.  
  
"Yea Buff?" Dawn stared at her. Buffy looked away. This didn't seem right. She was supposed to be somewhere, doing something, helping someone...  
  
"Nothing. I was just --" Buffy began. She looked around. It was suddenly dark. The mile long line-up that had stretched out before them had disappeared, and the movie-theatre was boarded up. Her sister was standing in front of her, looking around. It was apparent that she was as puzzled as Buffy.  
  
"Hey," Buffy asked out-loud. "Would someone mind making it day-time again?" They exchanged glances, reading each others minds. In unison, they each pulled a stake from their jackets, and held it at the ready. Something funky was going on, and it obviously wasn't the ridiculous prices for popcorn.  
  
They waited for what seemed like an eternity. A question suddenly sprung to Buffy's mind.  
  
"Dawn--" Buffy said, hurriedly, spinning around. The sight that met her eyes made her blood run cold. Invisble hands were lifting Dawn into the air, about 7 feet up. She was being held with both hands, parrallel to the ground. The brunette-headed teenager was trying to pry invisible hands from around her neck, and struggling hard to escape from the grasp of whatever was holding her up. Then, in one swift motion, the hands twisted her back, and a loud crack was heard. Dawn fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.  
  
"Dawny!" Buffy screamed in horror, tears streaming down her face. The sight of her sister's back being snapped like a lobster was too much. She leaned across Dawn's body and vomitted in horror and disghust. This wasn't happening, this was too real... She closed her eyes and fell backwards, falling unconscious as the invisible demon hit her hard across the face.  
  
Buffy Summers sat up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and her breath was coming in short breaths. 

_Just a dream, Buff, calm down.. Go back to sleep, it's over now..._


	2. Awakening

The next morning, Dawn went to Buffy's room to wake her up. It was an hour past mid-day, and it was very unusual for Buffy to sleep in so late.  
  
She found Buffy curled up into a ball on her bed. Her sister's sheets were drenched with vomit, and Buffy was half-asleep. Dawn approached her sister cautiously. She was muttering to herself, incoherently.  
  
"Buffy?" She called, in a hushed voice. The brunette shouted for Willow, and in a moment the red-headed girl was standing next to her.   
  
"Oh God, Buffy," she muttered. "Dawn, get me some towels," she instructed, as she rushed to Buffy's bedside. "Buffy, wake up.. Buffy.." Willow shook the slayer gently. Her eyes opened as she stared up at Willow.  
  
"Willow?" Tears welled up in her eyes. "Dawn," she gulped. "Dawn.. Dawn.. Willow where is Dawn?" She began, fear beginning to well up inside her.  
  
"Don't worry Buff, she's gone to get some towels." Buffy wasn't litsening. She staggered out of bed uneasily.  
  
"Dawn!" She called, ambling out of her bedroom. "Dawn! Dawn!" She staggered through the hallway, her legs weak. She found her sister, running up the stairs. Dawn opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but was cut off when Buffy wrapped her into a tight embrace.  
  
"Buffy," Dawn muttered, as her sister whimpered into her shoulder. "Buffy what's wrong? What happened?"  
  
Buffy looked up, and wiped the tears from her face.  
  
_Come on Buffy, you're being stupid.. You know you're being stupid...  
_  
She groaned and sniffed. "I'm sorry," she tried to think of something, not really itching to tell Dawn of her dream. "I think I was a little out of it last night.."  
  
"Damn right you were!" She heard Willow's comment, snyde but worried. She turned around to see the red-headed witch. "Buffy you're sick. Come on, you're going back to bed," she said. "You can sleep in my bed, me and Dawny will get your room cleaned up."  
  
"I'm not sick, Will," Buffy said. She sounded alot more sure than she felt. She felt queasy, and she was sweating like a pig.  
  
"Buff," Willow said sternly. "This is my resolve face. You've seen it before, you know what it means." Sure enough, Willow had her resolve face on, and there was obviously no arguing. So, she allowed Dawn to lead her to Willow's bedroom and tuck her into bed and give her a kiss on the forehead. In a matter of minutes she was sound asleep.  
  
"Something's wrong with Buffy," Dawn told Willow afterward, as she brought the towels into Buffy's bedroom.  
  
"Yea," Willow scoffed. "No kidding." Dawn glared at her. Usually Willow was the only one that would take her seariously.  
  
"I'm searious. Something's spooked her, and bad," she concluded.   
  
"She's sick, she's not at her best anyway," Willow suggested. "I think she's a bit delirious. Like she said, she was out of it last night." Dawn tried to convince herself that Willow was right, yet somehow it wasn't helping.  
  
Buffy woke up later that evening, hardly remembering the events that had occured earlier that day.  
  
She climbed out of bed, still groggily, and headed to her room. She was dressed and downstairs in a few minutes. The Summers household was a zoo, it was a wonder that she had gotten any sleep at all. Willow typing away at her computer, Potentials fighting over the remote, and giggling like hyenas. The second she stepped onto the stairs, she immediantly wanted to go back to bed, but she forced herself to continue into the circus.  
  
Dawn was sitting on the couch watching TV when she saw Buffy coming down the stairs. She got up and gave Buffy a hug.  
  
"How're you feeling?" She asked.  
  
"Alright," she replied simply. She was trying to remember a dream she had last night, but it seemed to escape her. Like water trickling through her hands, the more she thought about it the more distant the memory became.   
  
Andrew was tied up in the corner of the room. Buffy resisted the urge to laughed at the sight of him, craning his neck to see the TV.  
  
"Can't you.." He groaned, trying to move his chair toward the television. "Can't you watch something better than _MTV Cribs_?"  
  
Kennedy glared at him. "And what would you suggest?"  
  
"Well.." Andrew said, knowing exactly what he wanted to watch. "_Passions_ is coming on in a minute... I've got a feeling that Beth is going to get caught with Sheridan's baby any day now!"  
  
Everyone in the room rolled their eyes at Andrew's lack of shame. It never ceased to amaze Buffy how Andrew was such a geek, and yet he acted almost proud of it. Like he knew what he was, and what he wanted.  
  
At that moment, Anya came in through the front door, looking very tired. She walked over to the couch, where a young, blonde-haired potential was sitting next to Dawn.  
  
"Excuse me," Anya said. "I want to sit. Please move." The potential gave Anya a look, and scooted over. Anya flopped onto the couch, and lay there, staring at the television set.  
  
"What's up with you?" Dawn asked. It wasn't often that Anya was in a mood. Of course, rarely did Anya remember to use manners, but she was usually up-beat and happy.  
  
"I didn't get any sleep last night." She looked at the potentials, sitting around the living room. "I dreamt that you were all killed, horribly and brutally. It was quite colorful, with many organs. Yet I found it oddly disturbing."  
  
The potentials stared at her, gaping and wide-eyed. She found it oddly disturbing. For Anya, that was something to be proud of.  
  
"Thank you, love.." Molly choked out, attempting to hold down her lunch. Dawn patted Anya's knee affectionately.  
  
"Haven't mastered tact yet, have we?" The ex-demon glared at her as if she were a moron.  
  
"Tact is a waste of time. It causes much confusion, and no-one ever understands what you mean." It was true enough. When Anya said something you always understood what she was trying to say. 


End file.
